*******Representation in America's Legislatures*******

***README FILE***

This zip file contains data for the Maryland Senate:

mds9900_README.txt: Explains the layout of roll call data files and provides general project 
information
mds9900_rc.dta: Stata 8SE file containing roll call data
mds9900_rc.csv: Comma delimited text file containing roll call data
mds9900_summaries.txt: Text file containing bill summary information for matching roll calls

Attribution: If you use the data, please include this citation:
Gerald Wright. 2004. "Representation in America's Legislatures." Indiana University: National Science
Foundation Grant.

Funding for the Representation in America's Legislatures project was provided by the Political Science
Program of the Division of Social and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation (SES-0094635
and SES-0242571).

**Important Notes
Only competitive roll calls are included in these files.  A competitive roll call is one in which 5% or
more of legislators voting voted in the minority.  All roll calls with less than 5% of legislators
voting in the minority are defined as non-competitive and not included in these files.

For a detailed description of the roll call collection see:
http://www.indiana.edu/~ral/ral_papers.htm

**Roll Call Files:

Variable Identification:
chid: Chamber identification: state abbreviation plus chamber (s=senate, h=house) (string)
dist: Legislator's district (string)
first: First name of legislator (string)
last: Last name of legislator (string)
pid: Party identification: 0=Republican, 1=Democrat, 2=Other (numeric)
rc's: 0=no, 1=yes, All other votes=. (numeric)


**Summary File:

Complete bill summary information included
See summary file mds9900_summaries.txt for more details.
